Far Galactic North, Consilium-2
A solitary figure, clad in a white, modestly decorated officers garb, looked on at the boundless red sands of the desert beyond. In the horizon, there lay the system's star sitting at high noon, its nuclear fire scorching the surface bare of any life that either was not hardy enough, or had not the sense to hide beneath ravines or within the confines of the planet's many caverns.
Not that Goshenite would care to pay attention to organics in the first place, for even if she did wish to appreciate the primitive little things, there was always so much more work to be done.
Continuing to watch the holoscreen, she saw as the dunes were peppered by explosions, each one flaring up like miniature stars in their own right and turning the sand to crude glass through their sheer power. Humming in satisfaction, she carried on observing the vivid display till it ceased from the eyes of one of the many cameras placed on the walls, here, on this lone bastion of civilisation within the next three thousand or so light years.
There, on a banded sandstone outcropping, was a platoon composed of quartzes under her command - along with a number of scientist caste gems accompanying them - making checks on the weapons before firing another volley of glowing death into the empty dunes. It was a small piece of reprieve to see the gleaming results of millennia worth of work manifest at least once in a while, because otherwise her tenure here may as well have been incarceration.
Trapped within the limits of a windowless room, spacious as it was, where her only view of the world beyond were numerous floating holoscreens that all displayed a different part of the complex, was monotonous at best on most days.
Perhaps it was her idle imagination speaking, but each one of the screens, as though they were another member of the elite, seemed to almost stare at her. Judging her every action while she addressed some of their number, forcing her to make haste and finish talking to one so she could move on and speak to them instead.
But it had been aeons since she had emerged from the ground, aeons since she had spent surviving, and thriving, in that system.
After enduring so much for so long, boredom, and the wild imaginings that came with it, were far below the threshold of what could cause her any real discomfort. Indeed, nowadays there was little that could truly phase her…
Whoom-ping
Little aside from that.
At once, and with practiced ease masking her expression, she stood up from the hovering chair and turned to face the warp pad in the corner of the room.
Ultimately, if she had not been notified with an option screen to accept or deny the entity's travel in advance, it could only mean that someone with the correct clearance had decided to come. And though that meant it was potentially three different people, she was not so deluded in her own importance to think that White Diamond herself would come.
That left only two.
One of them she only feared. The other, she only despised; despite their attempts - both passive and active - to terrorise everyone around them.
Goshenite had been there, within the accursed confines where they had been grown, at the moment they emerged from the abyss - far later than the rest of their blighted batch - to take them in and train them.
She alone was the last alive in the universe that had seen the abomination for what they were. Beneath the prosthetics, beneath that visor of hers. Gnarled and twisted was, and still is, their form. Though they had of course been dressed up in limb enhancers, what to look presentable to that pearl, so they would relay their findings to White Diamond before their impeccable judgement could decide what to do with the salvaged dregs of that long ago abandoned and ill-fated project.
'Damned upstart.' Dangerous though it could be to think such while Noctilith could have been behind her, Goshenite was one of the few who knew what they were capable of, and had steeled her mind through sheer will accordingly to be able to rebuke their probing. It was a luxury that few held, to be able to criticise them, even if only within the trappings of their own consciousness, without needing to watch out for imminent reprisal.
Fleeting fears of their scrying aside, as prodigious a protégé they had been while under her tutelage, it was impossible for her to conceive them becoming anything more than an aristocrat's personal attack lackey. Whipped into their place by the constant reminder of their own physical form's inherent failings, even if their mind did possess the coveted combination of dangerous cunning paired with unquestioning obedience to temper it; something that many of the elite only could wish their own agents had.
Indeed, Goshenite could remember how they were while under her. Going through every lecture or combat session without so much as letting slip a word, or a breath, except when spoken to.
'The perfect example of what every lower caste's mentality ought to be,' She managed to admit something positive about them, only to then frown as another admission came to mind, '...and perhaps why White Diamond had deemed her acceptable.'
Letting out her distaste in a strangled breath of relief, as the warp stream dissipated she saw only one figure greeting her from the pad - already an improvement from the usual state of affairs.
On their face was struck in stone not the eternal scowl of the other, but instead an eerie and empty smile plastered on a calm, chalky complexion. Spindly arms were forever raised level to the side of their head, with palms facing up in homage, even as they walked towards her, whilst a single working eye and its cracked partner then stared back at her.
Yet, as they continued to stare her down in silence, still smiling all the while, even the functioning eye managed to be equally as blank and devoid of any signs of higher thought as its ruined counterpart.
Stopping two steps in front of her, a pause came before anything else did. "Goshenite." White Pearl said, standing statuesque as their voice echoed twice. First with the unnatural instant echo that it was always laced with, then for another time as the acoustics of the room did their work to amplify the foreboding that it was already rich with.
An era had passed since then - the last time White Diamond was seen ever using their powers in public. Goshenite was still young then. Young, inexperienced and, above all, afraid. But like everyone around her, fear of death, if not in body, then in mind, anchored her quivering form as she watched the terrible spectacle unfold.
From that day onwards, she always had, and always will, danced impeccably to the tune she was told to.
So, despite knowing the symptoms, despite knowing that it was no mere pearl speaking to her through that puppeted avatar, she continued the charade as though acting from what was almost an official script by this point.
And, as proper etiquette when speaking to a diamond's pearl, she did not snap to salute, but neither did she disparage or deign to give them a formal address. "Pearl." She started. "I take it Her Almighty Brilliance requires my decennial report?"
Those pearls' voices were the voices of their owners after all - and this one more so than the others.
"Of course." Pearl replied, still smiling as she spoke in cheery monotone.
While this one did make their first appearance about a hundred and ten thousand years ahead from the last time Goshenite was witness to her creator's fel powers, and about fourty six thousand years or so since the last time she knew anyone ever being recorded as having gotten possessed, she also knew better than to question their true identity.
There was a reason why she had lived so long, and this was part of it.
Ancient experience had taught her to act as such, and much more.
Continuing on with the act, which after millennia had become almost ritual in its predictiveness, Goshenite responded with a nod before going back to the control centre and interacting with the central panel. A light grey screen rose out from the white, crystalline surface, the individual glyphs and words of ten years worth of documentation so miniscule that entire paragraphs of text looked as though they were seldom more than a thin streak of chalk scratched onto the surface of a monolith.
Though impractical it may have seemed, there was no need for anyone to actually be able to read these compiled reports. If anything, it acted as an extra layer of security against anyone seeking to read it, for it took a certain set of abilities to turn it into a legible form.
She then put her hand under the screen and lifted it up before turning around to show it to Pearl. "Here, I hope it is up to standard."
Immediately, a light appeared from the stone on Pearl's navel, scanning the information on the screen hovering over Goshenite's hand.
As the light faded back into its source, while the rest of her body remained frozen, Pearl's neck craned down and back up in the vague and mechanical approximation of a nod in response. "All appears to be in order."
Though Goshenite would not think that the rising seismic activity causing increasingly costly to repair infrastructure damage on the planet would constitute things as being 'in order', she did not question their analysis. Accepting that her job had been deemed done, she added nothing more to it.
"Good to hear of it." Goshenite said before pausing in thought. Then, for the dual purpose of satisfying her own curiosity and to act as something else to maintain the illusion of conversation, she asked. "I do wonder though, where is... she?"
"Noctilith is indisposed with an investigation at the moment," Pearl said, not skipping a beat, "So I will be taking over her duties today."
Keeping an errant hum in check, Goshenite had no idea what to feel about this development. On one hand, the prospect of being away from Noctilith and their sickening presence for a while longer was enticing. On the other hand, treasonous thinking as it might be considered by some, she had her doubts as to how much White Dia- a pearl would truly care for or know about the practical applications of new weapon systems in the field.
But that was where her concerns ended. Perhaps Goshenite would have cared more if what was actually being created here found its way to the frontlines. But, as revolutionary as some of it was, not once in the five thousand years that the planet had been in use for testing did anything become widely adopted by the wider military.
Sometimes, the growing solitude of the white court could be blamed, for it was not exactly conducive to transparent communication or connecting with the rest of the Imperial courts. However, on rare occasions when the veil of secrecy had been lifted and she was given the opportunity to espouse the technology to others, they made a show of bowing down to her seniority while she was there, only to then throw away what they were given after she left.
Then when she confronted them, all she received in return were messages containing half-cooked excuses. Usually they came along the lines of that there was no need to change, because they still won great victories against primitive organic civilisations either way, it being too expensive to mass produce enough for every last quartz and ruby to wield, or that it would detract from the 'glory' and 'prestige' to be gained from battle.
Though the first reason had some dubious merit, and the second something actually resembling critical thinking, Goshenite often was tempted to send a lone audio file of her sneering in return to whoever told her the third.
While it was not rare for Agates, certain types of Garnets or even Beryls like her to lead a charge into a melee to inspire the common soldiery behind them to commit greater feats, after some digging she had learnt those who used the latter excuse had a reputation for sitting in the back, using robonoids to observe and direct the battle instead. In truth, while she felt there was to be some value in that way of leading as it meant there was less risk of shattering, and thus not wasting the extensive resources it took to make aristocrats, the blatant hypocrisy of their argument made anything said from those cliques ring hollow with her.
After being chained with the knowledge that it was useless to petition her Diamond, by now apathy was what reigned over her decisions. Nowadays, even if there was a chance to show off whatever was being made here, she no longer bothered. One time though she had considered letting one of the few outsider aristocrats working on the planet, such as the Demantoid Garnet heading the research division, only to then be barred after remembering that none of those from the other courts were allowed to leave until the work here was concluded. Whenever that would be.
She broke off from the mental tirade before then addressing Pearl again, and although the whole episode lasted little more than a few seconds, it was not wise to keep them waiting for much longer.
"Come then, there is much to be done, much to be seen." Goshenite said as she walked past them and to the door, her tone remaining firm as to keep up pretences.
#####
Homeworld
A galaxy warp within the bowels of the White Sector of the planet sprang to life, lighting up the abandoned facility with a phantom flash of light before near-total darkness engulfed the area once more, the only sources of illumination remaining being the few places where the roof gave way to clear crystal windows. Even then, the light streaming in constituted as little more than a few thin and wispy rays, fighting a futile stand against the dark as the manifold layers of eons worth of urbanisation above choked it long before it hit the ground.
As the stream dissipated, it left behind an armed - twin tipped spear slung over their back by a strap around their shoulder - though otherwise unassuming figure atop the circular ziggurat like structure. Ancient and long built over, it, along with the facility it was housed in possessed neither the ostentation and grandeur of architecture from the Empire's golden age, nor the cold geometry and utilitarian style employed by era two's more advanced buildings.
It merely existed. A long retired model, once used as a proof of concept and now tucked away to slowly gather dust. Nonetheless, the construct still served its purpose to those who knew of it, even while hidden away in some dark and forgotten corner of the worldwide city.
In many ways, much like the one who now used it.
Stepping down from the stairs with an eerie echo announcing her footfalls, Noctilith grumbled. A swift and near silent act, even with the acoustics of the area amplifying it, but it may as well have been a rolling thunderstorm coming from the likes of her.
Putting a free hand to the worn console on one of the four exits of the room, the door screeched open, letting her through before its unmaintained mechanisms heaved and groaned, slamming it shut behind her. Her other hand meanwhile had the four of the limb enhancer's five fingers formed into a holoscreen, which was always floating just ahead of her, displaying a report she was near finished with filing.
And as she marched past the endless doors lining the sides of the hall ahead, the longer she looked at it, the more so much about it caused her to feel a strange sensation. One that, as the seconds ticked by, began to resemble something almost recognisable as irritation.
Despite her strict adherence to veracity, the numerous holes in the information she had to present began to make her wonder if it was indeed complete. After running the numbers, sorting through records, everything that might provide empirical evidence to point to the Agate's failures, there was nothing. Being the thorough kind of person she was, she at first thought fraud was the likely culprit, that something had to have been modified or edited to try and hide the human's escape.
As much as it flared up the mirage of what might be called hesitation within her stone, to purge someone as true and loyal as them when there were aristocrats with far more flagrant abuses of power to their name, she carried on. Doing as duty demanded and searching further for anything that could be incriminating.
But after sifting through mounds of documents from the zoo itself, there was nothing. Cross-checking and in-depth analysis had revealed the records remained pristine, with no signs of any tampering whatsoever.
Nevertheless, despite the lack of discrepancies, the pinpoint accuracy of the records did bring her and the Agate both to a strange realisation.
Even after discounting the inane probabilities surrounding the events that would allow for a human being smuggled out or escaping on its own, there remained no chance of that one falling into the hands of those off colours, all because of the mere trifle of a fact that they did not exist. Ultimately, it would be quite difficult to steal what was not, or in this case, should not, have been real.
After taking a left turn and continuing her walk down the empty, unlit halls, Noctilith brought up another one of the documents she had compiled.
Once the two had come to that finding, prosecution was tenuously set to one side for the moment as she and the zoo's overseer instead worked in tandem, combing the censuses of currently existing human specimens along with comparing them to images taken of the item in question...
Juveniles - a hundred seventy two existing specimens. Juvenile males - eighty six existing specimens. Then came the more specific details and features of that one specimen. Paler complexion, a bald head, and copper red hair where it was present on their eyebrows. Though these factors narrowed it down to less than half a dozen items, they were all accounted for, none had left where they were supposed to be.
Despite this apparent reality, they continued, if only for the sake of finding out if any of the specimens matched their identity at all.
Eye colour was the last factor checked, and as though some malevolent force had tried to throw up an obstacle to stall their progress, the images captured of the item in question showed that theirs was one of the rarer ones, that of pure yellow. Unusual as this combination of features were, there was indeed one specimen which matched almost all of these descriptors. Almost.
Pity that one was an adult, and it was nearing old age besides.
Taking another turn and walking on before being met with a long set of stairs, she shuttled away from that document once she finished typing it up and moved onto another, one which was of current concern. It took half a minute to get down to the bottom at her brisk and urgent pace, then a whole five to make it down a third hall.
As with every one preceding it, there were dozens, sometimes hundreds, of different doors at each side, each leading to a different room with stars knows what stored within.
But she knew exactly which one had what she needed, and as she approached it, Noctilith again used her free hand to use the console at the side to open the next set of worn and weathered doors ahead of her. Parting with a high-pitched creak as an ill-omened invitation, it gave way, not to yet another hall, but to a room.
Four triangular walls composed the inside of the pyramid-like structure, and where they met at the top, the solid structure gave way to great panes of clear crystal from which a lone ray of light shone down on a smaller proto-warp pad at the centre. Everything here, from the unused equipment strewn around the edges, to the floor, the walls and pillars that held it up, was covered in fine layers of dust, signifying that none had come here in quite some time.
In the range of five to six years, if she had to place a guess after seeing how settled the detritus had become.
And she had no intention of re-setting that timer. The proto-galaxy warp was relatively common enough knowledge among the higher echelons of the white court that she saw fresh tracks around it every four, five weeks or so. But the full extent of the facility was one that she would prefer to be left only to the few who already had knowledge of it - all the better to let her move around undetected.
And so before the door could close automatically, she put some conscious effort into switching the state of her gemstone, causing it to polarise with a positive charge. Then, with a small flick of her fingers, a foreboding breezeless wind howled throughout the building, and as it passed, the particles of dust around her footprints in the preceding halls began to be drawn together by some invisible force, pooling them together and rebuilding the even layer of wispy debris that coated the place.
After she took the final few steps to bring her atop the pad itself, as a further precaution before warping away she flicked her fingers again, hiding the last traces that anyone had been present in the room at all. Satisfied that any evidence of her movements were now erased, Noctilith warped away for the Yellow Sector, intent on speaking to someone about to embark on a task of great import indeed.
#####
Homeworld, Yellow Sector, Research Facility-13
In recent days, Peridot was not feeling as though she had not done everything she could have to fulfil her duty. Her initial attempts at repairing the galaxy warp had… fallen flat, to say the least. Failures were beginning to pile up, failures she could not afford to have been found to be behind.
As she trod down the evenly lit, bright golden halls of the bare and undecorated facility, a certain tightness clamped down on her as she reflected on what she could have been doing wrong. Everything had left her temper frayed as she became rather twitchy, and as the delay to her missions went on, she only grew more and more fraught.
She should have been on Earth by now, reactivating the planet's Alpha Kindergarten and monitoring the cluster's progress. The planet's galaxy warp should also have been repaired, she had seen it fixed with her very eyes, and yet, it refused to acknowledge her calls to teleport at all when there was no logical or likely reason it should have.
While there indeed was evidence of what could have been the native organics perhaps compromising the pad, it was hard for her to believe something so primitive would be able to do enough damage to put a galaxy warp of all things completely out of commission.
'Stars… maybe its time I tried something else. Think, think… hmmm remote access could work… for now.' But even that would be a temporary fix, as there were only so many things she could access with whatever machinery was left at the kindergarten, and that would likely only fulfil one half of her mission.
If she wanted to do anything thoroughly, personal intervention on her part would be needed, but to do that she would have to requisition a ship, and doing so without raising questions that might lead to her failings being uncovered…
As hard as she tried not to think of it, but with all the obstacles and pitfalls that were strewn about in front of her in the near future, ready to ensnare her, Peridot could not help but dwell on the topic. And it did no favours for her mood, not one bit.
So when she spotted a stranger standing outside the doors of her work station, she came close to boiling point.
Though they stood two heads taller than her and were armed with a strange spear tipped with murderous looking edges, she had dealt with her fair share of hotheaded soldierly types in her extensive time doing kindergarten work, and she would not be deterred now. Especially not when said person was brazen enough to be standing, openly, outside her office - which itself was deep within the premises of a high-security building that they had no business being in.
'How did they even get in here...' She wondered to herself, irate, knowing full well what kinds of screenings and protections were in place. The gates and landing pads were surrounded by sentries and guards, all the while the warp pads were locked for use to anyone but authorised personnel.
No matter, they were here now, and she would have to address that issue. "Excuse me," Peridot began, irritation bubbling just below the surface of her glowering expression as she spoke, "but what are you doing here? This area is strictly off… limits..."
Peridot trailed off as the stranger turned to face her, instant recognition draining her face of any anger that might have once clouded it as she now struggled to hold in a horrified gasp. Immediately, on the instant she saw their stone and their face, she had her answer of how they had gotten past every layer of the security measures meant to hide the facility's inner workings.
Then, after an eternal moment, the now all too familiar individual broke the prolonged silence first. "Do not fret, I have broken no law by coming here. The mandate given to me by My Diamond covers such things, so long as I have the proper justification." They said to her plainly, setting aside their screen to float by the side of their head, then focusing their attention squarely on her. "Peridot, Facet-2F5L, Cut-5XG?"
However, they were so subtle, so subdued, that she almost did not realise they were only asking for their identity instead of calling her to stand to attention or somesuch.
Realising what was happening and remembering the kind of authority and power they could evoke, resisting the urge to shake and shiver, Peridot shot to form a salute towards them as if they were a superior. "Y- yes, that is my designation your cla-"
Raising the floating fingers of their free hand, they wordlessly told her to stop giving tribute, a flash of strange disgust flickering its way across their completely reflective visor as they interrupted in as polite a way as their seemingly nothing but blunt disposition should have allowed.
"Our castes are of similar rank." They said as they lowered their prosthetic back down. Though even then, the icy nature of their words made it feel as though it was more of a stolid command than a simple correction.
At that, Peridot's posture slackened back to its usual state, though slowly at first as she had some trouble taking in the idea that someone so close to a Diamond could be such. Then again, though a diamond's pearl was, in theory, also on the same ranking as all other pearls, because of who their owners were they were almost always afforded far more respect and attention than any of their peers.
'Maybe that's the case…' Peridot freely thought to herself, blissfully unaware of the dangers of doing that around this herald without extensive training in guarding her mind.
"Oh... I see." She said, some amount of confidence returning to her as she began to internalise that fact. "But I'm curious, so if I can ask…" pausing, she pushed down the crackling sensation of dread in her stone - for this was still a member of the white court after all, no matter how low their caste was, "what is your gem's designation? I've never seen anything like it before."
Embarrassing as it was for her, an expert kindergartener, to have no idea of what the identity of the gem in front of her was, Peridot felt it to only be the apt and logical course to ask. Else, the conversation she now felt will likely now follow would be far more awkward than it otherwise needed to be.
"I am afraid I cannot disclose any of that information," They said, neutral, "instead, refer to me as 3TN if you must." Now, then came the barest traces of amiability, and dare she believe it, genuine respect in her tone for the peridot.
Here after all was another like her. Coming from so low to now be assigned to partake in something greater than themselves - something so significant to the continuation of the Empire.
That, and she had become tired of castigating errant aristocracy who had become more focused on intrigue and lax in their duty. While she often was ordered to give them one last chance after a stern warning, her appearance as both lower caste and an era two gem gave them every reason to show arrogance towards her and destroy their chance for redemption. Hypocrisy was their sword, and they thought they could fight her off by citing fallible loopholes in ancient code. Denial was their shield, and they thought they could parry the consequences of their negligence away once their first swipes failed to land a strike.
Though all broke under the spear in the end, whether it be metaphorically, or literally, there was something… refreshing about being able to speak with someone other than them. Someone who she did not need to play mental gymnastics with before getting them to listen, if they would at all.
Nodding in compliance, Peridot then at last gathered the courage to ask them to state their purpose. "So then… 3TN, what do you want me for?"
3TN paused, leaving her in restless quiet as all she saw was the nervous mirror image of her face in that inscrutable visor of theirs.
But eventually, after some thinking, they flicked a look towards the door beside the two before then speaking, grave, and barely above a whisper. "...It would be best if we take this discussion inside."
Peridot, despite that statement starting to give her suspicions that they knew what the research was being conducted here actually was, continued to play it safe and mention nothing about it. After all, there were punishments for leaking classified information, and calling them severe would be far underscoring the truth.
Besides, if the topic was going to be anywhere near what she thought it could be, then it was best to speak behind closed doors.
So, after sending anxious eyes darting around the hall, Peridot replied in a low, cautious tone. "Of course..."
Turning around, slowly, to look at the small console embedded in the wall beside the door, she twiddled her right limb enhancer's fingers for a moment. Then, after taking a burdened breath, she sent them out to type the password with all speed, not leaving a single wasted second nor making a single mistake.
Accepting the code on the first try, the door hissed smoothly open, Peridot entered first with 3TN drifting behind. Curiously, though both era two manufactured gems were equipped with prosthetics, the herald's own steps, while still possessing noticeable volume, were magnitudes quieter than her own.
Tossing it up to practise or some sort of special training, she thought nothing more of it as she quickly took a seat on the side of the desk facing the back end of the small office room's wall. There were more important things to be thinking of now than such idle fancy.
After she had sat down and looked at the other person in the room, she saw that they were still standing, and staring. They stared on, at the end of the table opposite her - where there was a visible lack of extra seating.
Abashed, she did her best to hide the look on her face. "Sorry, I don't normally have many people coming to meet me personally…" Peridot said, looking to the empty space.
Raising their head, '3TN' did not appear offended by it in the slightest. "No harm done." They told her before undoing the strap keeping their spear on their shoulder, and with a deft grip they swung it upwards, narrowly missing the table on the arc bringing one of the bladed tips uncomfortably close to her face.
Wide eyed and terrified, Peridot was paralyzed in place as they drew their weapon, realising there was no escaping this. There would be now way to run, for they were between her and the only exit. There would be no way help could arrive in time, even if she called for it. There was no way a lone, unarmed, scientist could fight them off…
The crackling in her stone rose in intensity, and as it did, she clamped down her eyes, closing them and preparing for the worst.
'Oh stars oh stars oh stars…' She stressed, paranoia taking over and forcing her to think of every little thing she might have done that could have offended the white court gem, 'I'm going to be shattered, I'm going to be shattered, I'm-'
A strange sound - something in between malicious whispering and a gust of wind - echoed through the room, rousing her from the frightened stupor induced by thoughts of impending mortality. And as more time passed where death never came, Peridot gathered the will to force one eye back open on time to see that their spear was no longer pointed towards her, but instead was floating horizontally behind 3TN at roughly knee level.
Perplexed as she was by the sight, she was too astounded to say or ask anything of it. The sheer bizzarity, in fact, made her begin to question whether the surreal sight she saw was the result of some visual processing glitch on her part or not.
Either utterly unaware of her plight or apathetic to it, 3TN continued as usual. "I had intended to come to speak with you sooner, but as you know, the court case drew my attention elsewhere for some time." They said, taking a seat on the shaft of the hovering weapon and bringing their own holoscreen back to the fore. "For now though, there are two topics I wish to speak about with you today, first and foremost among them being your upcoming missions related to Earth."
Even though they had yet to mention even an inkling of information surrounding the cluster, the very mention of that planet made Peridot realise there was now nothing else it could be.
Shuffling uncomfortably in her seat at the idea, she made sure to pay heed to whatever they would say next.
"According to a certain source I have gotten ahold of, the Crystal Gems still yet live." 3TN announced, and in spite of the resounding implications of what they had revealed, they said it in a voice as blunt as a sledgehammer.
And it certainly struck her like one too. Dumbfounded, Peridot almost found herself gawking at the revelation before she shut her mouth just as it began to open. "But, I thought they were all... destroyed- at the end of the war?"
"It appears not." 3TN told her as they brought up what appeared to be dossiers, some revulsion now tainting their tone as they saw the images of the individuals on screen.
Not that Peridot could blame them, for the moment she recognised the five pointed star symbol present on one of them, she too was instilled with disgust.
"So far, it is confirmed that three of their number survive in the location where their main base was believed to be, though it is entirely possible there are more on other parts of the planet." Another bout of subtle spite came, even if their stalwart face showed none of it. "Chief among the remnants are the renegade pearl and the false garnet. Rose Quartz, however, so far is nowhere to be found." For someone with the character of a stone wall, mentioning the name of the great traitor gave even them some pause. "But, my source has given me information that seems to suggest that they have begun to recruit the native organics into their midst. How much of a danger these will be to your missions though is… questionable."
Suddenly, the failure of the Earth galaxy warp was beginning to make far more sense, even if the symbol she found staining the warp was rather strange and did not match any of those in the database she tried matching it with. Whoever sabotaged the warp to breaking point - whether it be the rebels, or organics under their direction - it mattered not. What did though was making sure of the accuracy of the report, and while she did not doubt the competence of the herald, the disbelief spawned by the sheer unlikeliness of the Crystal Gems' survival prompted her to want to know more.
After all, while this was as good of a casus belli as any - along with being a reason that very much had sound justification to allow her to at last ask for a warship to travel to Earth - the protections she needed to complete the groundside missions safely would take up quite a number of resources. Resources that could not afford to be wasted.
Sounding far less troubled and more on board now that it seemed they were truly here to help her, Peridot pressed on lightly, and with a tone of guarded interest. "Hmm… in which case, I don't suppose you'd be able to disclose what this source of yours is?" A pause. "So I can verify it for myself, you understand." She hastily tacked on at the end, hoping not to sound too assertive.
Much to her relief, nothing had provoked 3TN, and all they did in return was nod. "Indeed, you could speak with them at any time. I have already made the orders to have them transferred to the purview of Her Great Clarity, Yellow Diamond, for the benefit of aiding in protecting her long-term project."
'Speak? With them?' That alone garnered her interest. If this source was a person, then it opened up a myriad of possibilities. Perhaps they were a defector from the rebellion itself, or perhaps a loyalist who had survived alone on the hostile world and somehow had made it back.
Whatever the case, she shoved those ideas to one side for later, and Peridot set her sights on the more practical aspects of what this information entailed, now that she had been given all but unrestricted access to verify it with the source. "Then… what do you suggest?"
Putting away the dossiers, 3TN moved to another document - the contents of which caught her interest, as one who worked with technology, immensely - before speaking again. "I have thought of a number of strategies that, should you encounter rebel forces, would work to your favour…"
Had the significance of their information and their position not been so, Peridot may have been tempted to tune out their speech in favour of staring and savouring every last byte of information her eyes could gather - even from just the single page that was currently on show.
It was a blueprint, which apparently, according to them, was to be among the first prototypes that were going to get revealed to any other court in a slow declassification process; inherently implying there was far, far more to come.
And with how extensive each blueprint was, explaining in meticulous detail the mechanisms and laws of physics behind only this one, a form of muted excitement buzzed her as a multitude of theories and ideas came to mind of what they could be used for. Though as an engineer, she never thought of herself as an expert on tactics, the idea that science was at last coming to be of use in wider warfare made her just that little bit more smug in this small victory over the hardheaded quartzes and other soldier caste gems she had butted heads against for so long.
"...so if you were to bring an entourage of quartzes for defence, then with these weapon systems, such formations would be suitable in such situations." 3TN finished, at last giving her some leave as they let her sit on everything that they just said.
Long and drawn out as everything about this meeting had felt to her - their imposing presence, the startling reveals, the new devices, Peridot felt more at ease than she did at the beginning of their encounter. With this information, she could be finally freed to complete her job, for now there was solid evidence her failures were not of her own making.
And she was sure none, least of all Yellow Diamond, would mind the blame being placed on the Crystal Gems once said evidence was presented to them.
"Now onto the second topic," They began again after the reprieve, "what can you tell me of that human and the off colours your robonoids encountered?"
Giving herself room for a mental sigh of relief, Peridot was happy to hear that this topic was of less severity, at least to her personally, if still taking it with plenty of the same seriousness she had before.
"I don't know much," She prefaced, "but I will give you as much information on them as I have on record…"
#####
Consilium-2
The door to the control room hissed open, with White Pearl and Goshenite walking inwards while the general's own pearl stayed on the other side of the door.
"That will be all Pearl." Goshenite said, not even deigning to break posture or send a look back to her own personal servant.
"Yes, your clarity." They replied with the typical show of subordination, a salute and bow, afterwards then using the console at the other side and closing the door without a second thought.
Letting out a subtle sigh as it closed with a quiet click behind her, she knew she would be left alone once more. However, after looking at the alternatives, to leave this cosy position of isolation and to return to the cutthroat world of aristocratic politics, she decided to try not to feel so terrible about it.
After a short silence, White Pearl turned to face her and made another clockwork nod. "I believe White Diamond will deem your work satisfactory." She said, her puppeteer wording it so that it seemed she still had a shred of individuality left.
Though this was another new part of the script, for recent events had left the other herald occupied, Gohsenite already knew that it was best to keep the rest of the act simple, and so her reply was a lone, "I thank Her Almighty Brilliance. I do my duty," spoken in a firm, though thankful manner.
Just then, rumbling, thunderous quakes washed over the edifice, the structure ringing like a bell as it did its damndest to weather the devastation. Goshenite dug her heels, biting back a curse or two as her top half nearly lurched forward from the seismic strike. Whatever the case was, she was still a general, and it would not do for her to show such conduct to anyone. It was unbecoming no matter the situation, least of all when in sight of that Pearl.
Recovering from the sudden jolt of stress that came with nearly tripping in front of them, she had to admit something. Whatever the other benefits of her position were, she could not deny the seclusion perpetuated by job had the consequence of leaving her far out of practice in the arts of courtly life.
Breaking from her thoughts, she slowly became more conscious of the fact that the event had prompted a strange silence between the two, breaking only after Pearl, who had remained utterly unwavering in her pose even as the very planet itself heaved and shook, gave a reply. "As all of us should strive to."
On that final, ominous note she turned around and walked off to the warp pad in the large office, her goal being one of the smaller warps around the main galaxy warp in the city centre that would link back to Homeworld.
As Goshenite steadied herself against the less severe following bout of planetwide quaking, she could swear that for a mere second, before the warp stream engulfed their form and they were spirited away, the perpetual, unchanging smile on the statuesque figure rose upwards ever so slightly.
At what though, if it was not some illusion, she could only guess at.